Resources

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people experience targeted homophobia and transphobia at every level – including legal, political and social. For sex workers who are LGBT, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity adds to and intensifies the discrimination they experience as sex workers.

Between 23rd and 27th July 2018, more than 120 sex workers from more than 25 countries attended the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS2018) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The bi-annual International AIDS Conferences are the largest global gathering of HIV academics, implementers, policy makers, people living with HIV and those most affected by HIV, including sex workers.

NSWP has published a new series of tools for sex worker-led organisations, to monitor the rollout of the Sex Worker Implementation Tool (SWIT) and meaningful involvement of sex workers in their countries. The tools are designed to highlight gaps and provide information to support sex worker-led organisations advocacy for the implementation of comprehensive rights-based services in their country.

In recent years a growing number of international organisations have released policies, guidance and recommendations that promote the rights of sex workers and advocate for the full decriminalisation of sex work. It can be difficult for sex workers and sex workers’ rights activists to maintain an awareness of the many policies and recommendations that now exist.

The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, with support from NSWP, submitted this shadow report to the 70th CEDAW Session, which took place June-July 2017. The report elaborates on the situation of women who are sex workers in New Zealand. It documents the way their situation has been advanced under the New Zealand Model of decriminalisation. The report also highlights disparities that still exist between non-migrant sex workers and migrant sex workers.

Asociación en Pro Apoyo a Servidores (APROASE A.C.) and Tamaulipas VIHda Trans, A.C, with support from NSWP, submitted this shadow report to the 70th CEDAW Session, which took place June-July 2017. The Shadow Report draws from consultation with cisgender and transgender sex workers in Mexico, and highlights the diverse forms of discrimination they face.

International migration has become a ‘mega trend’ of our times, with more than 260 million migrants living outside their country of origin in 2017. Some move in search of better livelihood opportunities, others flee conflict, environmental degradation or natural disasters, and yet others are deceived or coerced into exploitative work. At the same time, the categories developed by the international community for people on the move—such as smuggled migrants, refugees, or trafficked persons—are increasingly inadequate to capture today’s complex migration flows.

Yale Global Health Justice Partnership (GHJP) has released two complementary analyses on prostitution “diversion” programs (PDPs) in the USA: Diversion from Justice: 'A Rights-Based Analysis of Local ‘Prostitution Diversion Programs’ and their Impacts on People in the Sex Sector in the United States'; and 'Un-Meetable Promises: Rhetoric and Reality in New York City’s Human Trafficking Intervention Courts'. One is national in scope and the other focused specifically on New York City programming.

This Smart Guide aims to provide NSWP members with increased understanding of CEDAW and its potential for use in advocacy work. The Guide is the result of collaboration between NSWP and the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP).

The Annual Report highlights the activities and achievements of NSWP in 2017. These activities include capacity building, providing technical support to regional networks and the development of advocacy tools that bring the human rights of sex workers into focus.

The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), has published a how-to guide that aims to strengthen active community engagement within the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) of the Global Fund.

This resource was developed through the LINKAGES project by representatives of global and regional key population networks, community-based organisations led by and serving key populations, United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organisations, donors, and defenders of human rights who support and implement HIV programmes.

Behind the Rescue: How Anti-Trafficking Investigations and Policies Harm Migrant Sex Workers is a report produced by Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network), featuring the testimony of 18 Asian migrant sex workers, who contacted Butterfly when they were arrested, detained, and/or deported between May 2015 and August 2016 in Canada.